Proposal
by O2Shea
Summary: A year has passed since "Graduation" and that could be a long time. I don't own any part of "Roswell". Written for Roswell Muse #18 required items: "Well, that's great to hear now! Don't you think it's too late?" AND "Look into the desert and maybe you'll understand."


It had been almost a year since the group left Roswell, New Mexico. They rarely spoke of the lives they left behind. They were spending the summer as staff on a resort in Maine. The green countryside and the crashing waves down at the shore were a stark contrast to the town in which they had grown up.

Max and Liz Evans spent off hours in long walks and picnics, dreaming together by the sea. Their love was visible to all and it was no surprise when they walked into the staff lounge one night, joining Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Kyle at a table, beaming broadly. Max pulled Liz onto his lap, his hand lightly caressing her abdomen. As if the others could not have guessed, he announced, "We are pregnant."

Kyle muttered, "If 'we' are, that will be a first."

Max gave him a sideways glance and raised an eyebrow.

Kyle spread his arms. "It's normally just the woman who is pregnant."

"Oh, Kyle, you know what he meant!" Maria gushed. "I'm going to be an aunt!"

"No." Isabel drawled. "Actually I am going to be an aunt."

Maria froze and stared at Isabel. "Well... an honorary aunt anyway..."

"Sure. Honorary." Isabel gave a petulant shrug and got up. She paused by her brother and put her hand on his shoulder. "Congratulations, Max... Liz... When can we expect the new addition?"

Liz smiled happily at her. "Around Christmas."

Michael asked abruptly, "Have you figured out where we will be then?"

Max shook his head. "Not definitely. I thought maybe we'd want to move into Canada. What do you think?"

Michael considered. "No passports required. Further from Roswell... not to mention our own government. Not a bad idea."

He turned to Maria. "As long as it's a night for announcements, shall we tell them?"

Maria was sitting cozily against him, his arms snugly around her. She ducked her head a bit, uncharacteristically shy. "Sure."

Michael addressed the group. "We're getting married. I think we'll do that before we leave the States."

"You are all, of course, invited to the wedding..." Maria said, with a little laugh as Michael dropped a kiss onto her shining blonde head.

Liz was the first to respond. "I'm so happy for you! Congratulations! When do you want the wedding? After the season or during the summer?"

Maria shook her head and waved her fingers. "Whenever. I am still stunned. I mean, Michael and I have always made great music in the sack, but I was totally blown away when he asked me this afternoon."

"Best possible plan," Michael pointed out, turning her chin toward him and kissing her lips. "I was already in love with you and you already knew all my secrets."

"There is that." Maria admitted.

The air was filled with romance and Isabel could not stand it for a moment longer. She had not heard from Jesse in months. She acknowledged that she had told him not to keep in touch. He needed to get on with his life. It wasn't because she was so deeply in love with him either. She knew that. She could never have left him behind if he had been as important to her as Liz was to  
Max... or even Maria to Michael. In some ways she had loved Alex more. And Alex was long dead. She walked toward her cabin, and then realized that she didn't really want to go there either.

Isabel sat on a rustic granite seat at the edge of a meadow that was ringed with trees. Tears ran down her cheeks as she watched the moon. She knew what was wrong with her. She was so lonely that she could hardly stand it. Her shoulders shook with sobs that ended in a start when a hand was placed on one of them. She looked up into the face of Kyle Valenti.

"Overflowing with happiness in there, hmmm?" he smiled down at her wryly.

"Yeah." Isabel made an effort to smile. She was really fond of Kyle. He always made her feel better and he was, after all, as alone as she was.

"Great that they can add a kid to our little club and increase our danger... but no one else..."

"I know."

They were silent for a few moments. Neither seemed to notice that his hand remained on her shoulder. Finally Isabel said, "It's natural that they would want a child."

"Yeah, I know." Kyle sighed. The night was made for romance and he was deeply in love with the beautiful woman next to him. Too bad she never noticed. He guessed she missed her husband too much to really see him. Then again, had she ever really seen him?

"I'd like a child some day myself." It was the first time Isabel had ever admitted that aloud. The whole idea was so hopeless. There was no way it would ever be safe to let someone else know who they really were.

"Your children would be beautiful."

She looked up at him. "You think so?"

He sat down beside her and looked into her eyes. "How could they help being... when their mother is the most beautiful woman in the world?"

Tears filled Isabel's eyes again."Oh, Kyle... That's the kind of thing Alex would say!"

Kyle turned his head away. "I'm not him."

"I know." Silence fell between them and the ghost of Alex Whitman could be felt... if only Isabel could see him.

Alex shook his head at her. "Take him, Isabel. Can't you see how much he loves you?"

She glanced wonderingly at the silent Kyle. Her thoughts went out to Alex. "But I'm not in love with him."

"You could learn to love him," Alex responded. "You already love him as a friend... maybe as much as you loved me."

"Alex, I loved you!"

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Well, that's great to hear now! Don't you think it's too late? Anyway... Not really being in love didn't stop you from marrying Jesse. You were in love with love itself... not with him."

"But you said I should marry Jesse!"

"It was the right thing for you at the time. And so is this! Just give him a chance. You know that Jesse divorced you like you told him to... Marry Kyle. Have as real a life as your little gypsy caravan there can..." He started to fade from her view. "Give my love to the girls. I'm glad they're happy... but, you know, I don't think I will ever rest until YOU are too..."

Isabel looked at Kyle in a new way. She touched his arm. "Kyle..."

He looked at her. He couldn't help himself. She was so damn beautiful! "Yeah?"

"Kyle, you are special to me. I don't know what I would have done all these months if you hadn't pulled me out of the sulks on a regular basis!"

He shrugged. "Least I could do."

"No. You didn't have to... and you left your life behind as much as anyone did. Far more than the lovers in there did..." She gestured back across the dark toward the lounge they had left.

"Better than joining you in depression. Besides..." He became quiet again.

Isabel took his hand. "What?"

Kyle withdrew his hand. "Don't do this, Isabel."

"Do what?"

"Don't play with me. It isn't fair. I may not ever be warm again... but I don't want to get burned." He stood up.

Isabel hurried to stand and block his departure. "Kyle, wait! I'm not playing with you! Honest."

He turned desperately away from her. "Isabel, you have no idea how I feel about you!"

"Tell me."

Kyle became very still and then he looked into her eyes. "Remember what it was like. Back in Roswell."

Isabel nodded slowly, not sure where he was going.

"Compare it to this." He waved an arm at the cool green surrounding them. "If you want to know how I feel about you, look into the desert and maybe you'll understand."

"Understand?"

"Being around you is like finding an oasis. Only I never get to stay there. I have to go back into the stark empty desert again. That's where I really live and nothing changes that... but the oasis always beckons and I don't know how to stay away." His voice broke and he tried again to leave her.

Isabel stepped up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Kyle. Move to the oasis."

He met her gaze. "What are you saying?"

"Kyle, you and I care much more about one another than a lot of people who marry. We certainly know more about each other and have been through more together!"

"Yeah. So?"

"Marry me, Kyle. I know that Jesse followed through with the divorce. I'm free and so are you. We took a long time coming to this moment... but I think we could be happy. What do you think?"

Kyle breathed out slowly. His head was spinning. "Isabel... are you sure?"

"Yes." She tilted her head invitingly and he found her irresistible. He kissed her.

"Nice," Isabel commented. "Very nice."

Kyle quit being gentle and swept her up in his arms. "You really mean this?"

"Yes!"

"Isabel, I'm in love with you..."

"I know."

"You aren't in love with me."

"But I do love you, Kyle. We can start there, can't we?"

"Oh, yeah! I'm willing to start anywhere if it means being with you! I'd do anything for you!"

Between kisses, Isabel had an unwelcome thought. "Kyle, there's something you can do for me."

"What?"

"Propose to me, Kyle... I don't want to be the one that proposed..."

"Well, you did propose first," he teased her.

She pouted adorably. "I know... but..."

"Isabel." He put his finger under her chin and tipped her head up so that their eyes met. "Will you marry me?"

END


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